"But what about the motor boat?" and Sidney looked alarmed.
"Sammy called me after he'd been on watch a couple of hours, an' we went down to see what could be done. She's lashed fore an' aft to the boat-house, but with all that there's danger of her bein' stove, an' we can't do anything to prevent it."
"What shall I do? What shall I do?" Sidney cried in distress, for it seemed to him that if the boat belonging to the West Wind was destroyed, the last link binding him to his father would be broken.
"There's nothin' you can do, Sonny," Captain Eph said soothingly, as he took the lad in his arms. "Out here we have to take whatever comes, without a chance of fightin' agin it. If your boat is lost you must try to look pleasant, an' thank God this 'ere gale didn't spring up before you reached Carys' Ledge."
The howling of the wind and the beating of the surf against the base of the tower made such a noise that it was necessary those in the watch-room should speak loudly in order that their words might be heard above the tumult of the elements. Sidney clung tightly to Captain Eph, with both arms around the old man's neck, for the danger seemed suddenly to have increased as he realized that they were beyond reach of earthly aid in event of any accident.
Never before had he understood how entirely alone were light keepers on an isolated station, nor how ominous the howling of the wind might sound under such circumstances.
"Could the wind blow this tower over, sir?" he asked, and Captain Eph replied as he stroked the lad's hair affectionately.
"Now don't get anythin' like that inter your head, Sonny, although I allow there's reason for it. When I first came to Carys' Ledge, an' was standin' watch on a night like this, it seemed certain the tower would go by the board; but after a time I made myself understand that it was almost as firm as the solid rock. Besides, not bein' so big as to offer much resistance to the gale, I question if even a full-sized tornado could harm it."
"But light-houses are sometimes destroyed," Sidney whispered.
"Anything like that doesn't happen once in a hundred years. I reckon you're thinkin' of Minot's Ledge Light, on the Massachusetts coast, which was carried away in 1851; but in that case it was shown pretty clearly the mischief was done through the keepers' disobeying orders."